This invention deals generally with conveyors and more specifically with an apparatus to prevent blockage on a conveyor which moves materials that tend to adhere together or entangle to form large masses.
A common problem of conveyors with linearly moving surfaces, such as chain or belt conveyors, which handle organic materials is the tendency of such materials to either clump together because of their moisture content or to entangle to form large accumulations of the material. Sod and tree branches are typical examples of the two types of materials which have these characteristics. Unfortunately, in a typical conveyor system, such large bodies of material eventually contact some discontinuity, for instance a flow control device or an edge in the sidewalls of the conveyor, get caught, and stop moving. Since large bodies of material have such great size and weight, once they stop moving they tend to accumulate more material upstream and the entire conveyor becomes blocked. Typically the only solution is to shut down the conveyor, climb in, and clear it by hand. Such manual clearing, of course, decreases production time and increases labor costs.